Villard de Honnecourt(1)

The sketchbook of Villard de Honnecourt (c. 1235 and later) gives the lie once and for all to any idea that cathedral building was an amateur occupation. The book is written for skilled professionals. Figure 8.1, for example, shows one of the pages. The centre caption at the bottom refers to the survey under way: Pa(r) chu p'ntom le hau tece done toor – Par ce moyen on prend la hauteur d'une tour (how to take the height of a tower). The standards of lining, levelling and plumbing employed in the construction of Gothic cathedrals were outstanding. On the right of the figure, an arcade is being set out – how to set up two piers at the same height without plumbline or level. On the left one can find a big medieval joke: Par chu tail om vosure pendant – Par ce moyen on taille une voussure pendante (how to construct a hanging voussoir). Villard was a master. Why then has he had no public recognition? Why are no streets, or satellites, named after him? The answer is that Villard was in fact a minor architect, like Vitruvius. The only thing that they have in common is that some of their precious manuscripts accidentally survived; nothing is otherwise known of any of their work. Even Villard's written legacy has suffered attrition; in the fifteenth century there were forty-one leaves, recto and verso; now only thirty-three remain.